Metal vs. plastic lawnmower blades

Typically lawnmowers come with either a plastic or metal blade. The blade type that your lawnmower is fitted with can affect the quality of cut and the finish to your lawn and garden.

Basic lawnmowers are often fitted with plastic blades. These generally wear more quickly than metal blades which results in you needing to replace the lawnmower blades more often than a lawnmower that uses a metal blade.

Lawnmowers with metal blades are generally sharper and provide a cleaner cut to the grass blade, resulting in a neater, tidier and superior finish to your lawn and garden. Metal lawnmower blades in some cases can be sharpened unlike plastic blades.

Metal blades by their nature are stronger than plastic blades, therefore can withstand more ‘abuse’ from your lawn. When cutting the grass it is common for small stones to flick up and hit the blade. A metal blade is more likely to avoid bending or damage than a plastic blade, however because of their rigid structure they are more likely to become misaligned than lawnmowers that use plastic blades.

It is important that when using a lawnmower to cut the grass, that the blade is always sharp. Using a blunt or dull blade will result in you tearing the grass, rather than cutting it cleanly. Mowing the lawn is a stressful event for grass, and tearing it only stresses grass out further. This may cause the grass to wilt, turn brown and in extreme cases die. A dull blade also requires more power reducing efficiency of the lawnmower.

The way in which lawnmower blades are fixed to the lawnmower may also differ slightly depending on the material they are made from.

Plastic lawnmower blades are typically fixed to a plastic cutting disc that spins and keeps the blades in position. Metal lawnmower blades are typically fastened to the drive shaft connected to the motor/engine depending on the lawnmowers power type.

Choosing a replacement lawnmower blade

It is recommended that you sharpen or replace your lawnmower blade at the beginning of each grass growing season to make sure you use a sharp blade.

There are a wide variety of replacement lawnmower blades available to choose from on the market. Not all are suitable for every lawnmower. When looking to replace your lawnmower blade you should use your lawnmowers Model Number and Serial Number to help identify a suitable replacement blade. These numbers will help identify the product and the year of manufacture helping the company identify the blade you need to buy.

There are two types of replacement lawnmower blade you can buy. These are genuine replacement blades which the manufacturer produces for a specific machine, and universal blades which are typically made by other manufacturers designed to fit multiple lawnmower models and brands.

While universal or generic lawnmower blades are available and often cheaper than the genuine blades offered by the manufacturer, they don’t come without risks. In some instances they may not fit as well or provide the same level of finish to your lawn that you have become use to.

Also if the lawnmower fails during the manufactures warranty, they may refuse to honour the warranty and the blade may have caused the fault. You should always consult your lawnmowers manufacturer for the terms of their warranty.

The best lawnmower blades to buy are generally from your lawnmowers manufacturer as they can guarantee the quality of the blade and ensure that it works correctly when placed on your lawnmower.

You can buy Genuine Flymo replacement lawnmower blades in most good garden centres and retailers and on the Official Flymo Webshop.